nailed it

Pete Buttigieg destroys Ron DeSantis over Martha’s Vineyard stunt

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Governor Ron DeSantis
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Governor Ron DeSantis

A clip of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg calmly ripping apart Florida Governor Ron DeSantis went viral over the weekend.

The clip comes from an appearance Buttigieg made last week at the 2022 Texas Tribune Festival. Journalist Evan Smith interviewed Buttigieg for over an hour.

The subject of DeSantis flying migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts came up. Many Democrats have blasted the action as a political stunt.

Buttigieg went further.

“These are the kind of stunts you see from people who don’t have a solution,” Buttigieg says, to applause from the audience.

“Governor DeSantis is in Congress. Where was he when they were debating immigration reform,” Buttigieg asks. “What have any of these people done to be part of the solution?

“So, you know, I get that if you’re after attention … it’s one thing to call attention to a problem when you have a course of action … it’s another thing to call attention to a problem because the problem is actually more useful to you than the solution, and that helps you call attention to yourself.

“And that’s what’s going on,” Buttigieg continued. “And the problem is, it’s one thing if it was just people being obnoxious, but human beings are being impacted by that. You flee a communist regime in Venezuela, you come here, and then somebody tricks you—somebody using Florida taxpayer money for some reason—tricks you in going from Texas to Massachusetts.”

“It is not just ineffectual, it is hurting people in order to get attention.”

Related: Buttigieg roasts Rubio for calling same-sex marriage bill a “waste of time”

Buttigieg praised for taking DeSantis apart

Buttigieg’s comments were praised by many online.

Related: Ron DeSantis goes for Top Gun drag in new campaign video

Elsewhere in the conversation, Buttigieg, a married gay man and father to two kids, took aim at Texas, GOP Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn for their attacks on LGBTQ rights. Both men have indicated the issue of same-sex marriage should lie with individual states.

He talked about how happy his husband Chasten and kids made him.

“It’s puzzling to me that anybody would want to tear that up,” Buttigieg said. “I’ve met both of your senators and your governor,” he told the Texan reporter. “I don’t know their spouses. I don’t really think about their marriages. But I can’t imagine a situation where I would attempt to undo one of their marriages. So what makes them think that they are fit to pronounce upon mine?”

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